Save the date for GEMGENÈVE 2026: May 7-10 at Palexpo.
Young designers embody daring, creativity and contemporary sensitivities; supporting them is a way of making sure jewellery doesn’t lose its heart and soul. GemGenève offers emerging artist genuine exposure right up ther alongside bigger players, and their fresh insights contribute to the ecosystem as a whole. – Nadège Totah, co-organiser, GemGenève
GemGenève is a key springboard for emerging designers and new names in contemporary jewellery, and has established itself as a centre of inspiration and artistic discovery. For the tenth edition of the show, a selection of eight artists, each with their own extraordinary universe, will be unveiled in the Designers’ Village.
Each designer has been given absolute free rein to present their most inspired works, with just one condition: stay authentic. Indeed, Nadège Totah’s invaluable advice to them is to avoid trying to please the crowd and instead, be genuine; she is absolutely convinced that when it comes to jewellery, emotion always makes more of an impact than perfection.
>> NEW DESIGNERS
THREE WORLDS TO DISCOVER AND REDISCOVER
The artists present in the New Designers category are all established and recognised in the world of contemporary jewellery, and they all have one thing in common: a highly personal vision of what jewellery is.
BE LIZA, UK – Exhibiting for the first time
Lithuanian designer Be Liza sees jewellery as everyday armour for women. Inspired by the aesthetic of gothic fairytales, her works pay tribute to contemporary figures who are engaged, powerful, and thoroughly feminine. Exuding masterful technical skill, the brand’s collections combine carefully chosen gemstones with demanding expertise: metal lace dialogues with remarkably detailed finishings such as mirror polishing. GemGenève will be welcoming the London-based artist for the first time; her jewels have already been spotted in British Vogue and the Tatler.
MIKE JOSEPH, THAILAND – Exhibiting for the first time
Born into a family of jewelsmiths in Armenia, Mike Saatji has now settled in Bangkok. Having started out in the business in the 2000s, he set up a brand under his own name in 2015: Mike Joseph. Working with traditional materials such as gold and diamonds, he also explores more contemporary materials such as titanium, adding subtle touches of the metal to his pieces. Discovered at GemGenève in 2025, where his participation in the Armenian Jewellers Association (AJA) collective devoted to promising Armenian creative artists worldwide was widely noticed, Mike Joseph will be back this year to present his own personal world and his latest works.
Designed with an audience of all genders in mind, Saatji’s unisex creations combine traditional and more daring materials in characteristically timeless pieces.
A.WIN SIU, CHINA – Exhibiting for the fourth time
For me, being at GemGenève for the fourth time simply means continuing to share my most recent work with the public. To be perfectly honest, I always feel somewhat nervous before a show, but this time round I’m a little more relaxed. – A.win Siu
First discovered at GemGenève in 2022, the Chinese artist immediately won over the European public with her colourful pop pieces. A.win Siu sees any artistic work as a mirror in which the spectator can glimpse a part of themselves, and has developed a style language in which jewellery becomes a medium for more intimate, philosophical introspection.
For GemGenève 10, the artist will be presenting one of her 2026 masterworks featuring titanium, enamel, Brazilian Paraiba tourmaline, Burmese sapphire, ruby, spinel and diamonds. In a further addition to her Something Sweet collection, she will also be unveiling a sweet-shaped brooch with a Colombian emerald.
>> EMERGING TALENTS
FIVE NAMES TO KEEP A CLOSE EYE ON
These young, contemporary brands are among the rising stars in today’s jewellery scene. Some have emerged discreetly, others have so far presented their work only in the most confined circles, and all five are as yet ‘below the radar’ when it comes to the market at large.
JAQUELINE POWERS, USA – Exhibiting for the second time
We’re delighted to be presenting new pieces – bold creations that are also designed to be comfortable to wear. – Vince Gerardis, founder of Jaqueline Powers
Presented at GemGenève for the first time in 2024, the US brand will be back at the Designers’ Village this year to unveil its latest jewellery items. Founded by the co-executive producer of the cult series Game of Thrones, Jaqueline Powers’ first time at GemGenève is remembered particularly for the brown and grey jewellery it put on show. Since then, the brand has expanded its world to include several series of jewels and other wearable art. Aimed at an international clientele in search of outstanding pieces (later spotted at high-profile events such as the Met Gala) the brand’s output is tiny – no more than a couple of pieces a month at most. Fashioned entirely by hand in Rome, each jewel embodies all the excellence of Italian expertise.
HEMERA PARIS, FRANCE – Exhibiting for the first time
GemGenève will be the very first exhibition ever for Hemera Paris. It’s a highly symbolic step for us after having launched and grown the brand very quietly at first, as we focused on building up relationships with our clients. – Florian Pitout, CEO Hemera Paris
Founded in 2024 by Florian Pitout, Hemera Paris styles itself not as a jeweller’s but as a fully-fledged metiers d’art brand. Its aim is to establish a dialogue between jewellery and other areas of excellence, designing outstanding items in collaboration with a range of artisans including leatherworkers, marquetarians and featherworkers.
While it may be little known as yet, Hemera Paris has already made a name for itself in the highly exclusive world of commissions, for which each piece designed as a personal work: an interpretation in jewellery of the history and universe of the person for whom it is made. These unique pieces recall a distinctive vision of luxury that has its roots in the nineteenth century, when each jewellery item was designed for a particular person and occasion – and made to last.
Florian Pitout developed this view of enduring and highly exclusive luxury during his time with Bentley. “A customer once said to me ‘I don’t buy a car, I buy my car’“. Pitout is now seeking to transpose this philosophy to the world of jewelsmithing, in particular by designing cross-cutting pieces that combine high jewellery with luxury leatherwork. At GemGenève 10, Hemera Paris will be unveiling a brooch designed in collaboration with Bernardo d’Orey, a craftsman specialising in straw micro marquetry. The brand is not merely participating for the first time: its creations have never been displayed in public before at all.
RICHARD WU JEWELRY, CHINA – Exhibiting for the second time
I made a lot of friends when I first exhibited at GemGenève in 2025, so the tenth edition of the event will feel like a reunion party for me! – Richard Wu
INCARNEM, FRANCE – Exhibiting for the first time
Discovered in Europe when he took part in GemGenève 9, Richard Wu will be back this year at the Designers’ Village to present his latest works.
Having originally specialised in jade carving, since 2005 the Chinese designer has been making jewellery marketed under the Liu Guangjia brand. In 2015, he spent time in Italy learning more about traditional jewelsmithing techniques, allowing him to become proficient in gold engraving and jewel-setting and create pieces blending western knowhow with oriental heritage, with surprisingly pleasing results.
His work bears witness to his extraordinary dexterity in metalwork and goldsmithing – and will once again be on display at GemGenève. Richard Wu is looking forward to being back at the show, recalling the many encounters that followed on from the first time he was there; he describes the possibilities opened up by meeting people from widely differing backgrounds in a single venue as “something really quite magical”.
I’m delighted to be taking part in this edition of GemGenève, where I will be able to meet the public and key players in the world of Swiss jewellery. It is an opportunity for me to engage with distinguished jewellers from across the globe and share my passion with a wider audience. – Marine Billet, founder of Incarnem
With a background in architecture, Marine Billet took her first steps in the world of jewellery in 2015. She started out as an independent model maker working with several leading Parisian fashion houses, including Schiaparelli, for whom she made the legendary ‘lung’ piece worn by Bella Hadid at the 2021 Cannes Film Festival.
She founded Incarnem in 2023, developing an approach to jewellery at the intersection of memory, imprints, and technique, of which Marine Billet’s favourite is moulding, enlisted to capture fragments of reality and set them in metal. Halfway between an imprint and a sculpture, the jewellery is conceived of as a second skin.
At once highly technical and deeply artistic, her approach results in “jewels for embodiment” – as the Incarnem name suggests.
PLAH, ITALY – Exhibiting for the first time
Sebastián Plah, a young jeweller with Colombian origins, will be unveiling his creative world at GemGenève for the first time, with the promise of creating jewels that enable people to feel self-assured, joyful and empowered.
Founder of his own-name brand, Sebastián Plah designs jewellery using gold, titanium and diamonds, his favourite materials. Based in Milan, the 25-year-old artist was first discovered in 2023 at the Digital Jewelry Week.
Since then, he has been asserting a singular style, freely inspired by iconic jewellers such as JAR as well as Latin American designers including Fernando Jorge, Silvia Tcherassi and Edgardo Osorio.
>> MASTERPIECE
A WORK BY THE ARTIST ATHI-PATRA RUGA
In collaboration with the Servais Family Collection
Born in South Africa in 1984, Athi-Patra Ruga has developed a cross-disciplinary artistic practice drawing heavily on the anti-apartheid movement of the 1950s, combining performance art, videos, textiles, painting and sculpture. His works are displayed in several leading international and institutional collections including the Smithsonian National Museum of African Art in Washington, the Pérez Art Museum Miami and the Louis Vuitton Foundation in Paris.
In his work, Athi-Patra Ruga highlights both Queer identity and artisanal knowhow as forms of independence and resistance. Through this unusual approach, the artist interrogates dominant models of production and traditional value hierarchies. GemGenève will be presenting ‘Proposed Model of François Feral Benga’, a work decorated with intricatelyworked fantasy jewellery. The piece pays tribute to François Benga, a Senegalese-French dancer and choreographer who was a star of the Folies Bergère in the 1930s, sharing the stage with the likes of Joséphine Baker. In this piece, Athi-Patra Ruga highlights the aesthetic power of artisanry whilst also questioning our understanding of memory, identity and representation.
>> FOCUS ON YOUNG ARTISTS
GEMGENÈVE MAIN PARTNER OF DIGITAL JEWELRY WEEK
The place to meet in the real world
Being present at GemGenève 10 is a real milestone for Digital Jewelry Week, demonstrating that online presentations and physical excellence are not opposites but complementary forces, shaping the future of high jewellery together. – Dario Rjeili, founder and CEO, Digital Exhibition Group S.R.L.
Digital Jewelry Week, the first online jewellery exhibition, is designed to broaden access to the international jewellery exhibition and give independent designers, emerging brands, craftspeople and students the opportunity to display their creative works to a global audience.
Since it first went online, the site has logged over 12,000 visits, linking together independent designers and small and medium-sized brands from a total of 29 countries.
As the main partner for Digital Jewelry Week and its major student contest, this May GemGenève will be proudly presenting the piece by the winning artist from the most recent edition, thus giving a young talent a physical exhibition space. Giving the online meeting point a foothold in the real world marks the launch of a genuinely hybrid model by GemGenève and Digital Jewelry Week, combining all the accessibility of digital technology with the authenticity of the experience in the ‘real world’.
The next edition of the Digital Jewelry Week 2026 will be held from 18 to 25 October 2026, and registrations are now open at digitaljewelryweek.com.
ARMENIAN JEWELLERS ASSOCIATION
Five designers at GemGenève
The Armenian Jewellers Association (AJA) has been organising an international design contest every year since 2023 with the aim to promote the creativity of jewellers and designers of Armenian origin on a global scale.
Five such artists will be presenting their vision of jewellery at GemGenève 10, offering an insight into the vitality and diversity of the emerging Armenian jewellery scene.
For its tenth edition, GemGenève will also welcome the Jewellery and Gemstone Association of Africa (JGAA), which will launch its very first Africa Jewellery Week™.
The show will also bring together the designers of the Strong & Precious Art Foundation, returning for their 7th consecutive edition to unveil their latest creations.
Under the artistic direction of Laura Inghirami – who marks her fifth collaboration with GemGenève in 2026 – students from the Galdus School in Milan and TADS (Tarì Design School) will celebrate the excellence of Made in Italy through creations specially designed for the show.
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